Avoid working on products in CDA (any product that relies on Simulink)
Pros
Free breakfast on Wednesday Free cookies on Friday Free fruit every morning (if you get to work early enough) Free dinner every day of the week if you stay at work late
Cons
1. Promotions are based on years of experience, or how many years since you got your bachelor's degree. For technical positions, new hires with a master's degree and no work experience generally enter as "Level 2". After 4-6 years of decent work, you are promoted to "Level 3" (Senior). After that promotion, you'll have to wait 10-15 years for your next promotion to "Level 4" (Principal). For many people, they get one promotion to "Level 3" (Senior) and that's it! 2. No work-life balance if you work on products in the CDA area. This covers all the products that require Simulink. Work with product teams in the LTC area (MATLAB and toolbox products) if you want work-life balance. 3. No work from home at all. (But some managers don't care when you work from home, so enforcement is uneven.) 4. Each year, your performance rating is decided well before you start writing the self-review. So nothing that you write in the self-review has any effect on your rating. What you write is to justify the rating that was given to you.